


“Have you heard of the concept of yin and yang?”

by tacosandflowers



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Acupuncture, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, kickball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 20:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4536795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacosandflowers/pseuds/tacosandflowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bellamy isn't totally sold on this whole 'getting stuck with needles' thing. And then he meets his cute acupuncturist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	“Have you heard of the concept of yin and yang?”

**Author's Note:**

> I got acupuncture the other day and had this idea, and more words than intended later, here we are. I am trained in neither acupuncture nor traditional Chinese medicine, so all likely mistakes are mine. Same goes with writing mistakes, as this is unbeta'd. Thanks to the WhatsApp girls as usual for the encouragement!

“I’m telling you, Bellamy, you’re going to thank me later for this,” Octavia says.

 

She’s in the driver’s seat of her car parked outside of the acupuncture clinic, annoyed with Bellamy because he’s still being stubborn about this.

 

“I just don’t see how a bunch of needles are supposed to help my knee feel less crappy,” he whines as he gets out of the car.

 

“Were you not listening to Lincoln when he was explaining it to you the other night?” Octavia asks.

 

The whole reason they’re here in the first place is because Octavia’s boyfriend is enrolled in a school of complimentary and integrative medicine that offers cheap acupuncture appointments where students do the treatment under the supervision of their instructors. Octavia started going and now she swears by it.

 

“Yeah yeah, needles in the right places that connect to the whatever, I get it,” he says.

 

Octavia rolls her eyes. “Just give it a chance, okay, Bell? It’s worked wonders for my back pain. And nothing else has helped you get your knee back to normal after that kickball accident—seriously, who feels the need to slide into home base to show off in front of a bunch of _fifth graders?_ ”

 

“My class had to beat Miss Monroe’s class, okay? I had fifty bucks riding on that game. The kids needed to get psyched up.”

 

Octavia laughs at him. “And yet you still lost. Have I told you lately that you’re a ridiculous person? Go get healed.”

 

Bellamy looks around skeptically as he walks into the clinic. Everything is calm with neutral tones, except for a poster of a naked dude whose skeleton shows through half his body, with a bunch of dots painted on him labeled in Chinese characters. It’s a super weird cartoon.

 

The receptionist has him fill out paperwork before directing him to a room where she tells him to wait and someone will be with him shortly. This room also has the weird cartoon on the wall, and he’s beginning to think it’s not meant as decoration.

 

He’s standing up looking at the see-through guy when the door opens and someone walks into the room.

 

“I see you’ve found the acupuncture chart,” a slightly husky female voice says, and Bellamy turns to find himself faced with a petite blonde in a lab coat holding a clipboard.

 

“You can have a seat,” she says. “My name is Clarke. I’ll be treating you today.”

 

She’s a babe. He did not expect this. He’s not sure what he did expect, really. Maybe another earnest, intense guy like Lincoln? Not a cute girl whose blue eyes hold his as she closes the door. Fuck.

 

“I’m Bellamy,” he says.

 

“Bellamy Blake,” she reads from her clipboard. “It says on your form that this is your first time trying acupuncture?”

 

“Uh, yeah.”

 

“What brings you in?”

 

“Well, I kind of jacked my knee in a kick—uh, sports injury, and I’ve had this twinge of pain in it ever since,” he says. “I’ve been stretching it and trying to rehab it at home and stuff, but my sister convinced me to come and try this. Her boyfriend’s in the program here.”

 

“Really? What’s his name?” she asks, her interest piqued.

 

“Lincoln,” he answers.

 

Her face breaks into a smile. She is _pretty_. “Lincoln’s a good friend of mine. So you’re Octavia’s overprotective brother.”

 

“That’s me,” he admits. Great, a cute girl who’s already biased against him.

 

“That’s great they talked you into coming. Acupuncture can be a very effective treatment for musculoskeletal issues like that,” she says.

 

“Um, awesome?” he says.

 

“Just keep an open mind,” she says with a reassuring smile.

 

She starts running through a series of questions about his medical history and the symptoms he’s been feeling, including things that have nothing to do with his knee.

 

“How are your bowel movements?” she asks with a completely straight face, pen poised to take notes.

 

“Uh, what?” is all he manages to say.

 

“Your digestive system actually tells us a lot about how your body is functioning. Before I can decide how to treat your knee, I need to know what’s going on with your whole body, so I ask about things like diet and thirst, frequency and consistency of bowel movements, sleep patterns, body temperature...” She makes a face at him like he’s not getting it, which he isn’t, so she continues with a question. “Have you heard of the concept of yin and yang?”

 

“Of course,” Bellamy says, because he’s not about to let the cute acupuncturist think he’s an idiot.

 

“Acupuncture is based in traditional Chinese medicine, which understands the body as being composed of yin and yang. When they’re in balance, the body is healthy. When they’re out of balance, the body is susceptible to things like illness, pain. You may have heard of the term qi? It’s spelled with a ‘q’ but pronounced ‘chee,’” she explains.

 

“I’ve been around Lincoln enough to have heard it a few times,” he says. He always thought it sounded like something one would talk to a yoga instructor or someone with a lot of crystals about, but he finds he’s actually interested in Clarke’s explanation. It’s way more intriguing coming out of her mouth than Lincoln’s. She’s got a nice mouth.

 

“Qi flows through the body along meridians, and when it’s flowing freely, the body is in balance. But the flow can get blocked. So we use the needles along the meridians to stimulate acupuncture points and restore the flow. That’s what the poster you were looking at is all about. And by going through all of these questions, it helps me understand which points to use to treat your knee. Make sense?”

 

Bellamy is just staring at her. He thinks it kind of makes sense, although it’s definitely different from the way he’s used to understanding his body, and it all still sounds pretty weird. But he promised Octavia he would try. And his acupuncturist is a babe.

 

“Uh, yeah, it’s starting to,” he responds.

 

“Great,” she says. “So, how _are_ your bowel movements? I know it’s a strange question, but you don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s all part of the treatment.” 

 

That just makes him more embarrassed. “They’re, um, fine, I guess? Normal?”  


“Regular and solid?” she prompts.

 

He’s definitely blushing now. “Yeah.”

 

“Okay,” she says, marking something down on her chart and moving on to the next set of questions.

 

When she finishes, she puts her clipboard aside and gestures to what looks like a massage table with two pillows on it covered by a sheet.

 

“If you could lie down up here on your back, with your head facing this way, I’m going to check your pulses,” she says.

 

“I have more than one pulse?” he asks as he toes off his sneakers and gets onto the table.

 

“Yes,” she says, taking his wrist into her hands after he’s comfortable on the pillows. “All part of understanding the body holistically. Just relax.”

 

He feels her put pressure on what he’s always understood as the place to take a pulse, and she holds it for a while. He has to actively work not to look up at her face while she’s doing it, so he can keep it together. He’s relieved when he feels her start to let go, but then she doesn’t completely. She moves her fingers to a slightly different place on his wrist and holds on again.

 

“I have to check your pulses at several points along your wrist, and on both sides,” she says, as if she senses his confusion. “It takes a little while, but it gives me a sense of how your body is currently balanced.”

 

It does take a while. She works quietly, her fingers soft but strong on his skin as she seems to almost listen to his blood flowing through his veins. When she finishes, she’s back to her clipboard, marking more things down, before she stands over him again.

 

“Okay, now I need you to show me your tongue,” she says.

 

“My tongue?” he asks, confused.

 

“You’re full of questions, aren’t you?” she says, and he can’t tell if she’s teasing him or not.

 

“I just like to know how things work,” he responds, and then sticks his tongue out obligingly.

 

She leans over him and looks at his tongue, her face focused and thoughtful. “The tongue shows me more about the current state of your body,” she says as she goes back to her clipboard to mark down a few more notes.

 

“That’s… interesting,” he says, and he’s not even lying. It is pretty interesting. He tries to look at his tongue because now he’s curious and a little self-conscious, like what if there’s food stuck in his teeth or something, and suddenly Clarke laughs.

 

It’s a beautiful sound. He likes it, and he also wonders what prompted it.

 

“Sorry,” she says. “But were you just trying to look at your own tongue? Because you went a little cross-eyed and your brow was kind of furrowed and… sorry, I shouldn’t laugh.”

 

“I don’t know,” he says, unable to help laughing a little too, because he was trying to not come off like an idiot, and has apparently failed. “I had to look, you piqued my curiosity.”

 

“Well, I don’t know what you could really tell from that angle, and with zero training, but feel free to keep trying,” she says.

 

“When do you start sticking needles in me?” he asks. He’s gone from being skeptical and nervous to being genuinely intrigued in the process and still a little nervous, because, well needles. It’s counterintuitive to voluntarily get stabbed by them.

 

“I’ll confer with my instructor about the treatment, and he’ll come back in here with me to take your pulses and double check that the points I’ve decided on are the right ones,” she explains.

 

“How long have you been doing this?” he can’t help but ask.

 

“I’m in my third year of training in the doctor of traditional Chinese medicine program,” she says. “So I’m not totally inexperienced, if that’s what you’re asking.”

 

“No, I’m just interested in how one gets into this kind of thing,” he admits.

 

She shrugs. “I was pre-med in college but decided that I didn’t really want to go to medical school, at least not for Western medicine. I spent some time traveling and learning about alternative medicine in different parts of the world, and decided this was the kind of health care I wanted to go into. Great way to piss my mom off, too. She’s a quote unquote ‘real’ doctor and thinks all of this is bullshit.”

 

He raises his eyebrows. “Acupuncture as a form of rebellion?”

 

She laughs again, and he likes it, again, especially since this time she’s not laughing _at_ him.

 

“That’s one way to put it. Okay Bellamy, how tight are those jeans?” she asks.

 

“What?” He sits up slightly, because did she really just ask him that?

 

“I’m going to put a few needles in your knee and legs, so unless you can roll those jeans up over your knees, you’ll probably want to take them off,” she explains, tossing him a blanket. “You can cover yourself with this, and I’ll knock before we come back in. Just get settled and comfortable.”

 

She leaves him then, after telling him to take off his pants in that voice of hers. Jesus. He likes her voice, too, in addition to liking her mouth and her laugh and her smile and just, well, her. And she just told him to strip. It’s been less than an hour, and he has crush on his acupuncturist. He can never tell Octavia this, she will gloat way too much.

 

Bellamy is settled back on the table, the blanket covering his middle, when Clarke knocks and comes back in with a tattooed guy with long hair who introduces himself as Nyko, Clarke and Lincoln’s instructor.

 

“So, how did you hurt your knee?” Nyko asks as he checks Bellamy’s pulses.   

 

“Uh, sports injury?” he says.

 

“The more details you can share with us about the mechanics of the injury, the better we can treat you,” Nyko says. Clarke stands next to him, watching intently.

 

It seems like he won’t be getting out of this. “Well, I was playing kickball, and I decided it would be a good idea to slide into home base feet first, and I kind of tweaked my knee while I was doing it.”

 

“Kickball?” Clarke asks. “Like, adult rec league or something?”

 

“No, actually I was playing with a bunch of fifth graders,” he admits. “I’m a fifth grade teacher. We take our kickball pretty seriously at Ark Elementary, and we were down by two late in the game, so.”

 

Clarke smiles at him in a way he can’t quite interpret, kind of a mix of _you’re weird_ and _you’re cute_. If he’s not mistaken, she’s intrigued by him too, but the middle of an acupuncture appointment does not seem to be the time to figure this out.

 

Nyko gives Clarke a few suggestions based on his reading of Bellamy’s pulses and his understanding of the injury, and then leaves the room.

 

“So did you win the game?” Clarke asks as she dips a cotton swab in alcohol and begins brushing it over Bellamy’s skin at various places on his legs and ankles, sending chills down his spine.

 

“The game?” he asks, distracted.

 

“Fifth grade kickball,” she says.

 

“Unfortunately no,” he replies with a sigh. “It literally added insult to injury.”

 

She chuckles softly as she swabs his wrists, and between his eyebrows. “Well that’s too bad. And I know you’re wondering what I’m doing with this swab, which is preparing the points for the needle insertion.”

 

It’s a good thing he’s nervous about the needles, because otherwise he’s afraid he might be a little too physically obvious about how attracted he is to her. He didn’t really think about how much touching acupuncture might involve.

 

“I’m going to put in the first needle,” she says after she throws out the swab and stands over his legs.

 

He swallows and says, “Okay.”

 

“You don’t have a fear of needles, do you?” she asks. “You checked ‘no’ for that question on your paperwork.”

 

“It’s not necessarily a fear,” he says, “but I am a little nervous, I guess, about how it’ll feel. It’s not like I love getting shots or anything.”

 

“Nobody loves getting shots, but acupuncture isn’t like getting shots. I have these little needles, see?” she says, holding one up. “They’re really thin. I’ll insert them into the points we’ve chosen for your treatment, and you might feel a tiny bit of pain, but it shouldn’t be anything sharp. If you feel a tingling sensation, or a pull around where the needle is placed, that’s a good thing, it means it’s working. I’ll take it slow so you can get used to it.”

 

She taps the first needle in and he lets out a breath as, sure enough, he feels a pinch following by a strange tingling around the needle.

 

“How did that feel?” she asks.

 

“Really weird,” he says.

 

“Did it hurt?”

 

“Sort of? Not in a sharp way, but still something.”

 

“It helps if you relax a bit,” she says, her hand resting for a moment on his shin. “Your whole body is tense right now. Try breathing in and out.”

 

Her voice is soothing and even as she works her way around his body, placing needles in several different places, talking him through it as she goes. He gets used to the feeling when the needles go in. Some he can barely feel, others seem to release more of the tingling.

 

After she’s done with his legs and arms, she stands over his head to place the last needle.

 

“Okay, kickball star, last one,” she says.

 

“Are you sticking that needle in my _face_?” he asks, slightly alarmed.

 

“I am. This is one of the most effective points.”

 

Her face hovers over his, and he would be staring at her mouth if he wasn’t so concerned about the needle headed for his brow. She works very gently, and soon he feels the pinch, followed by a rush of sensations stronger than any of the other needles so far.

 

“Whoa,” he says, blinking repeatedly. He still has no idea how a needle in his face can help his knee, but it’s clearly doing _something_.

 

“That one can be intense,” Clarke says, and then steps away. “We leave the needles in for about twenty minutes, and I’ll come check on you partway through, but all you have to do now is relax.”

 

“You’ve been telling me to relax the whole time,” Bellamy says.

 

“True,” she says, dimming the lights. “But you’re a first timer, so you’ve needed it. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.”

 

Now that the needles are in, Bellamy actually finds it easier to relax than he’d expected. He can kind of feel some of them, but for the most part it’s like he’s just lying back for a short nap. When Clarke comes back in, he opens his eyes.

 

“I’m just going to move some of these slightly,” she says, touching the needles one by one. She moves around his body and he watches her, as much as he can from that angle, and decides to upgrade his assessment from ‘cute’ to ‘beautiful.’

 

“Why?” he can’t help but ask. He is full of questions, but he doesn’t care. He likes hearing her answers.

 

“The stimulation helps the treatment,” she says, and he forces himself to ignore how the word “stimulation” sounds coming out of her mouth.

 

She leaves him again for another ten minutes, and he falls into an even deeper state of calm. He doesn’t get much of chance to just lie down and relax, in his day-to-day life. It feels good. So when she comes back in and turns the lights back up, he has to shake himself back to alertness.

 

“Fall asleep?” she asks.

 

“Nearly,” he says.

 

“You finally relaxed,” she says, smiling. “That’s good. I’m going to take the needles out now.” 

 

She moves around his body again, pulling each one out, and soon enough she’s throwing the needles into a sharps container and telling him to get dressed. He’s slightly dizzy when he sits up, but his entire body feels calm as he pulls on his jeans and he wonders if it’s from the acupuncture or the brief snooze. Clarke knocks again after he’s dressed and returns to the room.

 

“Congratulations,” she says. “You survived your first acupuncture treatment.”

 

“Do you have many casualties?” he jokes.

 

“I have yet to kill anyone,” she says with a wry smile.

 

“Congratulations,” he replies. It’s okay to flirt now that the appointment’s almost over, right? He wonders what she looks like underneath her lab coat. Dammit, he’s screwed.

 

She clears her throat and his eyes meet hers. “You’re all set to go now. You might not feel much right away, but pay attention to your knee tonight and tomorrow and take note of any changes.”

 

“Thanks,” he says. “And thanks for talking me through everything today. I learned a lot.”

 

Clarke shrugs and smiles. “You seemed like the type who needed the details.”

 

She’s not wrong. He’s already thinking he might try and find a book on this stuff, to understand more about the whole yin and yang thing, and where acupuncture comes from. Because he likes to read about everything. And he has a crush on his beautiful acupuncturist.

 

“We recommend you come in for a series of treatments,” she continues. “Multiple sessions are more effective, so if you do feel a difference, you should call and book another session.”

 

“Would it be with you again?” he asks, trying to play it cool.

 

She looks surprised. “The student clinic is typically just randomly assigned, but you can request an appointment with me if you want.”

 

“I was just curious how it, uh, worked,” he says awkwardly. This flirting thing is not going as well as it could.

 

They look at each other for a moment in silence, and then Clarke opens the door to walk him out.

 

“It was nice to meet you, Bellamy,” Clarke says, reaching her hand out to shake his. “I urge you to use caution in your future kickball pursuits.”

 

“Thanks Clarke,” he says, unable to contain a smile as he takes her hand. “It was nice to meet you too. See you again soon, maybe?”

 

She smiles back and says, “Yeah, maybe,” and then she lets go of his hand and turns to head to the back of the clinic while he heads for the exit at the front.

 

His knee does actually feel better that evening, and Octavia gets him to admit this at dinner with her and Lincoln.

 

“So it went well?” she asks.

 

“Yeah, surprisingly well,” Bellamy responds.

 

“Your knee feels better?” Lincoln asks.

 

“I think it really does. It’s pretty amazing, actually.”

 

“You were such a skeptic this morning,” Octavia says thoughtfully. “Wait. Who did you have? In the clinic, I mean. Which student.”

 

“Clarke Griffin,” he says. He’d gotten her last name by reading the ID tag she had clipped to her lab coat. 

 

“Aha!” Octavia says, eyes knowing. “No wonder you liked acupuncture so much.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, irritated.

 

“Clarke is gorgeous, and super smart. You probably have a crush on her now,” Octavia teases, and then her face goes serious as she watches him squirm. “Oh my god, you _do_ have a crush on her. _Of course_ you do.”

 

“Whatever,” he says, trying for casual but knowing nobody at this table is buying it.

 

“Clarke’s a good friend of mine,” Lincoln says.

 

“Look at him, Lincoln,” Octavia says unhelpfully. “Finally sold on natural medicine by a pretty face.”

 

“Hey, I didn’t say I was totally sold,” Bellamy replies, even though he’s already told them his knee feels better, and he pretty much is.

 

“Says the guy who brought home a library book on the history of traditional Chinese medicine,” Octavia says with a smirk.

 

He just shakes his head and keeps eating.

 

He goes back to see Clarke again the next week, and this time she smiles even more than last time and laughs at one of the dumb jokes he typically uses on a fifth grade audience.

 

At dinner that night he asks Lincoln, “So, is it unethical to ask your acupuncturist out on a date?”

 

“I knew it!” Octavia crows.

 

Lincoln just laughs. “I think you’re fine,” he says. “But you can always switch to another practitioner if you feel weird about it. Or just talk to her about it.”

 

“Do you think she’d be interested?” Bellamy asks, because he might as well swallow all of his pride at this point.

 

Lincoln looks thoughtful for a moment. “She’s been single for a while now.”

 

“Yeah, she dumped Lexa before Christmas, remember?” Octavia says.

 

“And she did mention she’d been treating you,” Lincoln continues, “and she was smiling rather than swearing when she said it, so I think you might have a shot.”

 

That’s enough for Bellamy to go on.

 

He brings it up at the end of their third session.

 

“So, how many more sessions do you think I need?” he asks.

 

“Well, it’s typically good to go for a month or more of consistent treatment, but it’s up to you when you stop, I guess,” she answers.

 

“I might need to stop,” he blurts out.

 

Clarke looks confused. “Oh, um, that’s fine, whatever works best for you.”

 

“No, I mean, I guess I could get more acupuncture if I need it, but I want to stop seeing you,” he says.

 

She looks more confused, and maybe even a little hurt.

 

“This is coming out wrong,” he continues, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m trying to ask you out, and I figured it might be weird if I was still your patient. Is it weird?”

 

“You asking me out or you being my patient and asking me out?”

 

“Both?” he says, and he’s feeling pretty embarrassed until she cracks a smile.

 

“That depends,” she says. “Are you actually asking me out or just talking about asking me out.”

 

“I’m actually asking you out,” he says.

 

“Okay, well, there’s not really a breach of ethics, I don’t think, but if it makes you feel better Lincoln can treat you from now on. Because I’d love to go out some time,” she says, smiling a bit shyly.

 

“Really?”

 

She nods, and he can’t help it, he leans in and kisses her, finally, after weeks of wondering what it would be like. He’s pretty far gone, to be honest, and he’s really only just getting to know her. Like he said, screwed.  

 

And it’s pretty great.

 

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he says when he pulls back. “Even though you stick needles in my face on a regular basis.”

 

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while too,” she says, running her thumb lightly over the spot on his forehead where the needle had recently been, and then she grins. “Plus it’s fun to stick needles in your face, even if you ask too many questions.”

 

“It’s settled then,” he says, and they make out a little more.

 

This whole acupuncture thing is turning out way better than he expected.

 

 

 


End file.
